Yes
26% (215)

No
74% (613)

828 total votes.

The minds of likely voters in California have hardly changed for years when asked about what should happen to illegal immigrants who live and work in the United States, according to a series of state polls.

Since 2007, nearly two-thirds of respondents have continued to say the undocumented who have worked in the country for at least two years should be allowed to stay, keep their jobs and apply for legal status, the Public Policy Institute of California has found. The figure was 62 percent in the latest poll, which was released Wednesday.

The numbers have remained steady despite the switch from a Republican president to a Democratic one, the Great Recession, many high-profile and strident comments about immigration during the current GOP primary contest, last year’s record number of deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the growing debate about a program in which local police help federal agents screen for undocumented immigrants, and Congress’ repeated rejection of the DREAM Act, which would give certain illegal immigrants a path to U.S. citizenship.

“Given all of the political and economic shifts in recent years, we have seen little change in the California public’s views of immigration,” said Mark Baldassare, president and survey director for the institute. “Californians seem to have made up their minds about the value of immigrants to our state’s economic well-being and the importance of having a path to citizenship for those who do not have legal status but are working here.”

The consistency also is surprising given how public opinion can fluctuate widely from year to year. For instance, voters’ views regarding offshore oil drilling rise and fall based on gas prices, environmental concerns and various political dynamics.

“For many people and maybe even most people, the question of what to do with undocumented immigrants is a moral question — and morality doesn’t change rapidly,” said John Skrentny, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California San Diego.

He said that sense of morality is evident on both sides of the issue — for those who believe undocumented immigrants are hard-working and for those who think what matters most is the original act of entering or overstaying illegally.

Californians’ sentiments on immigration largely resemble those from the rest of the country. Polls asking similar questions in other states or at the national level get nearly the same results: About 60-plus percent said they would allow illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S.

But the wording of the question is crucial. Surveys that offer two options — deport the undocumented or let them stay — tend to yield the highest support figures for illegal immigrants.